Location: Against fed law to use my religion W.There's no reason to suppress a viewpoint unless it's true,cause a false viewpoint can easily be combated w/facts and logic,while truth cannot be combated except by lies which are vulnerable to refutation.

Leaders representing 42 percent of the county's population gathered Wednesday in West Palm Beach to turn their growing numbers into political muscle, no matter how others react to their unlikely coalition of Hispanics and Jews.

At their second annual conference, leaders of the Hispanic Jewish Committee said they are forging ahead with the group's mission to become advocates for issues of mutual concern: immigration, education, business development and health care.

The Hispanic Jewish Committee was formed in 1999 under leadership of the American Jewish Committee, which has created similar coalitions with blacks and Catholics in the past. Immigration links Hispanics and Jews, two groups that have maintained cultural values while assimilating, Suro said.

Since 1990, the county's Jewish population has grown 66 percent to 230,000 residents -- or 30 percent of county residents. The county has the sixth-largest Jewish population in the nation. Census figures show more explosive change in the county's Hispanic community, which has more than doubled to 140,675 residents -- 12 percent of the county's population -- since 1990.

"The conference represents the wisdom of the idea because it's worked," said William Gralnick, southeast regional director of the American Jewish Committee. "There are still plenty of issues and things to do."

The panel also pushed the Student Adjustment Act, which, if passed, would make undocumented students permanent residents so they can apply for scholarships and pay in-state tuition for college.

"We want them to become educated and aware of what these issues are," said immigration attorney Marisol Zequeira Burke, with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach Inc. "Education is the first step. Next is to become involved."

Zequeira Burke, a panel member for an immigration workshop Wednesday evening, said she was surprised the Hispanic Jewish Committee wasn't created sooner. For eight years Zequeira Burke worked in Miami, where a similar coalition is entrenched.

"I'm glad it's happening," she said. "It's the only way to become effective and advocate for the rights of people."

Though leaders point to similar experiences of Hispanics and Jews -- from immigration to discrimination -- the coalition started slow partly because of its diversity. Some members come from one of about 20 Latin American countries. Others have traveled or lived in Israel. A few are Sephardim Jews, who are both Hispanic and Jewish.

The coalition's first conference last year was designed solely to motivate the leaders, said Lhisa Almashy, a founding member and executive director of the Milagro Center in Delray Beach.

... "We want to create a ripple effect. Now we want to get more specific. We always saw the need for advocacy, and now we're taking a more defined role."